Today's Reading: Job 42:10-11This is the same reading from yesterday, but I wanted to focus on another aspect of these verses today.Although in this case God restored Job's riches and even gave him twice as much as he had before, this is NOT a promise that God is always going to do that in our lives - at least when it comes to material riches. However, as we're going to see in a couple weeks when ...  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 42:10-11It is important to note that the Hebrew word translated "evil: in verse 11 carries the sense of calamity, disaster or harm rather than moral evil. There are a number of Scriptures that make it clear that God is not the author of evil:James 1:13–14 (ESV)13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself...  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 42:7-9This week we'll finish up our study of Job. We only have a few verses to cover this week so the readings will be short. If you need to use the time to catch up if you've gotten behind.In this passage, God rebukes Job's three "friends". There are a couple of interesting things in these verses:God does not rebuke Elihu. Even though he didn't get everything right either, we...  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 42:1-6To me, these verses are the heart of the entire book. God has used the suffering of Job to lead him into a much deeper relationship that he had at the beginning of the book. Job had gone from knowing about God (Elohim}  to genuinely knowing the LORD (YHWH). Interestingly Job still doesn't have the behind the scenes look that we have from the first two chapters of the boo...  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 41:1-34God concludes his answer to Job by talking about a creature that is normally translated as Leviathan.From David Guzik's commentary on Job 41:Usually Leviathan is considered to be a mythical sea-monster or dragon that terrorized sailors and fishermen. Yet in the context of Job 41, God does not seem to consider Leviathan to be mythical at all. Some believe that Leviathan ...  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 40:1-24Job answers God briefly in verses 3-5, but just long enough to promise that he will no longer question God. I don't think that God minds us asking questions, especially when those questions come from a genuine desire to know God more intimately. But we do need to be careful not to go as far as Job and his friends did and question God's character and motives....  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 39:1-30In this chapter God reminds Job of how He has created the animals to function in complex ways that no man can understand. I recently learned about the dung beetle that navigates uses the light from the Milky Way to navigate at night. While some would attribute that ability to evolution, God's response to Job shows us that it is because of an intelligent designer - God H...  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 38:1-41This week we'll be reading God's response to Job. That response consists mostly of questions that God asks Job that cause Job to reflect on the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God. They are great questions for us to consider and ponder as well....  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 36:1-37:24The greatest contribution Elihu makes is that he prepares Job to listen to God in the last part of the book. Job has been wanting to talk to God directly ever since chapter 9 and Elihu encourages Job to listen to the voice of God that he is about to hear. So while he has his faults, it appears that Elihu generally has things right, which is why he is not condemned al...  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 35:1-16Elihu goes on to explain that sometimes God uses suffering to reveal and root out sin in a righteous person. So affliction should make even a righteous person sensitive to the sin in his life and lead him to hate that sin and repent. But that still doesn’t provide Job with a satisfactory answer to his question, because, as Job is about to find out, that’s not even the r...  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 34:1-37The one thing we can give credit to Elihu for is that he appears to have a more complete view of God than Job's three friends. However, he also lacks the humility necessary to admit that there are still some things about how God operates that are a mystery....  Read More

Today's Reading: Job 33:1-33According to Elihu, God intervenes in the life of man in two ways – through dreams and visions, and through suffering. And in both, God’s purpose is to save, not to punish. Elihu does not picture God as an angry judge, but rather as a merciful Savior. This is particularly evident in verses 14-18 in this chapter....  Read More